ME? BUILD
A POND?

NAH, it wasn't even remotely on my 'projects to do list'.
But a local landscaping store had a sale on pre-formed fiberglass pond
pieces & the prices were to low to resist. Now...where to put it? After considering several places,
the one with the highest visibility to people passing by won. It also had a natural slope that was perfect for a
waterfall.(click headers for more
info)

POND
EXCAVATIONSince the pond was small (approx. 4 ft long x 19"
wide x 14" deep) & the ground was sandy, excavation wasn't difficult.
After digging a hole for the pond, a 3" layer of sand was added.
This gives the form a soft surface to rest on with no jagged edges to damage it & helps with leveling. The pond is
then filled with water & adjusted until it sits level. Once level, the soil from excavation is filled in & packed firmly around the
pond, leaving the pond lip just above ground. Next the waterfall piece was
added using a sand lining also.
It's highly recommended to put down layer of thick, black plastic around the pool area before landscaping & adding rocks.
The purpose of this is so any 'run off' water will be returned to the pool.
BUILDING THE STONE
WALLTo create a 'natural look', the wall surrounding the pond was made
of flat rocks. Luckily a drive on a nearby back road resulted
in finding all the rocks needed for the wall.(A nice savings
too!) Some of the rocks even had lichen growing on them which gives the wall a real woodsy & aged look. Building the wall was like putting a jigsaw puzzle together...getting all the pieces to fit.
Every so often during the building process, the wall was checked to make sure it was fairly level. One thing you
don't
want, is a lop-sided wall when you're done.

CREATING
THE WATERFALLThe hardest decision was how to create the waterfall. I
spent
many hours on the Net looking at pond sites & what other people
had done for their waterfalls. There were so many possibilities to
choose from. An off center waterfall was added to the pond using the same type rocks as the pond wall.
Great
Stuff, an expanding foam substance in a aerosol can, was used
to 'cement' the rocks together. If you ever use it...BEWARE...it's
very messy stuff! It's also extremely difficult to get off your hands
if you don't wear gloves. Even after using nail polish remover and
paint thinner there was still a thin coating of the stuff on my fingers.
But it did the job well. After the foam dried, the excess was cut
off with an Exacto knife & painted with medium gray spray paint. The
tube from the pump to the waterfall was hidden by burying it under the
mulch & adding plants.

Here's some 'hindsight' on waterfalls... All the information
I read on building waterfalls recommended to not cement the rocks together.
Regardless, we did. NOT a good move! After finishing the
pond, we noticed it was losing water. After looking things
over, we found there was a leak in the rock formation of the waterfall. Since
the rocks were foamed together, it made it much more difficult to fix the
problem. Another tip is to use thick clear aquarium type tubing instead
of the black kind sold with pond supplies. It camouflages much
better. PLUMBINGAll the pond 'plumbing supplies' came from Lowes &
Home Depot. Both stores carry Beckett Pumps.
Beckett has lots of info available
to help consumers plus color coded supplies based on the size
of the pond. They make it very easy to figure out what you need. A small pond kit included everything
we needed except for the tubing but that was located right next to the
kit. Even though our pond
was classified as a 'small size', we used a pump for a medium size pond because
it had more power needed for the nozzle and waterfall. Better
to have a little too much power than not enough! An adjustable diverter
was installed to control the water flow between the nozzle & the waterfall.

NOZZLESThere are several nozzles to choose from & we tried them
each one before deciding on the water bell. Our pond isn't that wide so some of the nozzles caused the over spray which would have
resulted in water loss. Other nozzles had a heavy water flow
& the loud noise from them drowned out the sound of the waterfall.
The water bell has a light tinkling sound that 'compliments' the trickling
of the waterfall instead of overpowering it.

AQUATIC PLANTSVisits to several local landscaping places yielded few choices of
water plants for the pond but a trip to a nearby pond provided more
than enough. The plants were placed in plastic bags that were
weighted down with rocks. Ideally water plants should be placed in
black pots to blend in with the fiberglass pond. There's
differences of opinion on what to use
& how to pot the plants.
We added some potting soil to the bags before putting them in the pond.
In hindsight, it wasn't
a good idea because the half the soil (which included
perlite) escaped,
floating on the top of the water & making a mess. Another try using red clay didn't produce
desirable results either. The pot tipped over & the red clay permeated
the water making it red and putting a light red film all over everything
(another mess!).
Finally we used a dark grayish clay
and covered it with black aquarium gravel
which worked great. Two years after the pond was done, we found potting soil
specifically for ponds in Lowes.

Water lilies help keep the algae level down by
lessening the amount of light. Plus, if you have goldfish, they give them
a shady place to hide during the hot hours of the day.

A pond in Zone 5 must be 4' deep to leave plants and/or fish in it thru the winter. So
every fall we take the water lilies out of the pond & dry them, leaving the
plants in the pot. During the winter months the pots are stored inside to
prevent the rhizomes from freezing. In the spring they go back out in the
pond to grow again. One thing to pass along we learned about water lilies...they
need still water to bloom. Every year our lilies grow lots of pads &
are very healthy but never blossom despite feeding them. We finally
realized it was because of the running water.

"CRITTERS"Our pond was started late in the pond season (mid
August). Despite that, the pond seemed like it was lacking something
without fish. So we bought two goldfish to add to the pond.
They are so much fun to watch! We migrated from sitting on our deck to relax, to sitting in
front of the pond so we could watch the fish & listen to the waterfall. Living in Zone 5 the freeze level has to be at
least 4 ft. in depth to winter the fish in the pond. So they
are brought in towards the end of September when the water gets to about 50
degrees & placed in an aquarium
until spring when they can go back out into the pond.
Fish aren't the only 'critters' in the pond though. It attracts wildlife. Shortly after we finished the pond, two frogs appeared & stayed all
summer. Every summer they find the pond around mid-August. They love to sit on the lily
pads soaking up the sun & gobble up flying insects that get too close. The
birds LOVE to take baths in the shallow waterfall & the squirrels like to
drink from it.

ACCENT LIGHTSAn underwater light was added for effect. It came with 4 different
color lenses. The green lens seemed to be the most natural looking
giving the pond a beautiful luminescent glow at night. A tulip
accent light was placed near the waterfall to highlight it. The 12W
bayonet style bulb of the tulip light was too bright initially &
detracted from the overall look of
the pond. But, after two coats
of emerald green glass stain to tone it down, it was just right & complimented
the luminescent green of the pond.

IT'S DONE!!The project took two full weekends to complete.
Minor 'finishing touches' were added the third weekend. Total cost ran @ $300. Not bad,
huh?

POND LINKSThere are LOTS of links out there containing a wealth of information.
As beginning ponders, we found a great deal of valuable information to
help with our project.

One thing to keep in mind when perusing
information on the Net...it's everyone's opinions. You will quickly
realize the opinions vary widely & it may get confusing. If you have questions, go to a
reputable source that is knowledgeable in ponds & stick with them. Take into consideration everything you read,
including these pages & do what works best for YOU.